More respect for US Navy officers and enlisted personnel needed

Oh good lord. I’ve watched movies through my binoculars being projected on giant screens on cruise ships off of Florida. Hell you can see the lume of a cruise ship under the horizon when it is 30 miles away. Good luck getting them to turn out the lights on floating disneyland.

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Always seems to be one that I’ve already seen though dammit… :confused:

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Which Flag State would you write to re: Rule 20? What would you tell them, or ask them?

Maybe you can ask them to ensure that it is possible to tell a Cruise ship’s “pretty lights” and movie screens from their Navlight. That would at least make some sense.

Maybe you could better post your opinion in threads about shore leave and mental health of seafarers, which also exists on this forum. Like this one for a start: Merchant Mariner Shore Leave

USS Mason shot down the missiles, or maybe not?: https://news.usni.org/2016/10/11/uss-mason-fired-3-missiles-to-defend-from-yemen-cruise-missiles-attack
Yes, if you are cruising along the Yemeni coast, it may pay off not to announce your presence and identity
Did the Yemenis spot them by radar, or visibly? Did they identify them as USN vessels by AIS?
A great big US flag could be a dead giveaway though:

Seriously, what is the biggest risk in Tokyo Bay, or Singapore Strait, incoming missiles or merchant ships you can somehow manage to get in front of??

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Here’s the official summary of action.

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Never!

Stop the presses! Just in on Stars and Stripes:

Twitter users appear to track Navy ships using newly activated beacons

Oh the horror! The ignorance! The hilarity! Where did they recruit the author? Or the editor. I’m guessing neither have any maritime background.

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For those curious, that’s the Nigerian Navy ship Thunder NNS F90. That is the former US Coast Guard Cutter Chase (WHEC 718), a 1960s Hamilton-class cutter, a 378’ ship that’s dual-powered (turbine and diesel).

I don’t know what happened here, but the Coast Guard hands these ships over to the purchasing nation who then takes responsibility for manning the ship and sailing it home.

I have zero knowledge on the ability and competence of these crews sailing a 378’ turbine powered ship capable of reaching speeds of 35 knots.

Yeah, as I noted in my post, “Of course, then there’s always the Nigerian version of collisions involving Naval ships.” Side note: Nigeria hates that ship now, since it took two patrol runs using the gas turbine to run through their whole fuel budget for the year.

That pic was from (I believe) their first foray from the dock after their refit after the transfer. The Nigerian Navy had a bad habit of running down boats with impunity. One of the first things I was told when I worked there was “don’t ever cross in front of them, even if you have RoW and there’s safe crossing distance… they’ll board you and teach you not to disrespect them.”

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:open_mouth::open_mouth::open_mouth:

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Go on…

I agree. It amazes me that Fleet Admiral Nimitz was an authority on Diesel engines and then went on to command surface warships culminating in command of a battleship. Fleet Admiral King and Admiral Bull Halsey both learn’t to fly in their 40s to experience the demands on the naval aviators that they commanded. I take my hat of to them.
But I can’t help being reminded of the old adage- “jack of all trades, master of none.” It takes someone of exceptional ability to excel given the varied tasks required by a US Naval Officer rather than that required by the rest of us.
In my own naval career back in the dim distant past, all young officers carried out seamanship tasks and junior officer of the watch before engineer officers went off to become engineers or other technical specialists.
We seamen officers did short courses in the various surface warfare departments and latter did a long course in a specialist course. The navigation course was one year and included practical ship handling in enclosed waters including high speed minelayering using taut wire measuring gear. The commanding officer was a very talented shiphandler with nerves of steel who watched from his chair as each student carried out a manoeuvre only intervening at the last possible minute to avert disaster. The advanced navigation that was taught was to ensure that a reasonable standard of Astro navigation and coastal navigation was achieved by young seamen officers.
Having said that I am very happy to use modern ECDIS equipment especially when I can double check on accuracy by briefly switching on the radar overlay.

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They had a crewboat heave to and boarded them just to beat the tar out of the Nigerian Chief Mate after he crossed in front of them coming out from Bonny about a month before I got there. Decided it was wise advice to really follow the “Haze gray, stay away!” rule after seeing the scars and bruises that guy suffered.

A great read. Thanks for taking time to compose and post the comment.

He was also involved in submarines going from diesel to nuclear and ‘inventing’ unreps. There’s a museum dedicated to him in the small Texas town where he was born. It’s worth visiting if you’re in the area. The proverbial farm boy gone to sea.

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“Farm boys” are how USA won WWII.

Today, there are very few such men. Draw your own conclusions.

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Not port Royal.

Here’s another farm boy, name of Irving Johnson.

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Always looking to stir the pot. Though seriously, just want to point out that Merchant Mariners have historically had a rougher time at sea than the Navy. We could run through the records of which ships have better funding, the most up to date technology, or best access to resources, and these records would trend in favor of the Navy throughout history, though the reader may miss the point. Merchant Mariners have simply been the easy target during wars, and they are the ones who deserve the benefit of any doubt, rewards, and parades (I actually don’t think anyone deserves any of this shit).
Take a peek at the data from World War 2, out last large Naval War: The Merchant Marines had the largest causalities, more so than any armed force. Coast Guard was next. And the Navy was under that somewhere. A quick reference for these numbers are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Merchant_Marine

31,442 lost in the British Merchant Navy in WW2.
Not all Brits of course, lots of Commonwealth, Indians and Chinese crews too.